MM Livestock Co

Thank you all so much! This mare really is one in a million. Her colt by Behave Yourself Sir (Sir ReminicX Jessie of Snowy River by Conalynx) starts training in the spring and at 2 already has his mama's try. He's not Smoke, but he is going to be a heck of a cow horse! Dr. Burns is going to harvest Smoke's eggs and has recipient mares standing by. Several stallion owners have agreed to collect their boys out of season so the next great son or daughter of this fabulous mare will be born after she is gone. No matter what, her superior genetics will continue to play an important role in the Working Cow Horse world.

Those of you that have been here know my old mare Smoke. She's the one that always has an orphan following her or a kid on her back. She's the one the boys grab when its time to move cows or go to a jackpot. She's the mother of my rope horse, my ranch horse, and my best broodmare. She's an own daughter of Smokum Oak. And has 9 hall of famers on her pedigree. She's my right arm & has a big piece of my heart. I owe this mare a lot. and the best gift I can give her is to let her go with dignity. Smoke started down hill when she was in with the other mares, I thought they were just pushing her around and brought her in to pamper. I had tests done just to be safe. Thinking "shes just old and needs some extra attention. No, My girl has cancer. I cried like a baby when I got the news. She will be put down next week & buried under her favorite tree. where future generations might pick up a little of her essence. I owe her the honor of not letting her suffer and to humanely lay her to rest with dignity and thanks for a lifetime of memories, Please, if you have a favorite horse make a donation to the AQHA retirement fund or an equine retirement facility near you. I promise to tell you when its all over and introduce you to her daughter Parkers Whisp of Smoke when you come to the farm. She's a great filly and will do her mama proud!

It never fails! At the first sign of rain the old ewes decide its time to lamb! 3 ewes got moved to the barn this morning and 2 of them have lambed so far. Lola has a set of twins and Emma tripled yet again. Everyone is snug & healthy in their jugs. A jug is a small pen that the sheep stay in for a few days after lambing so they bond. A ewe will occasionally walk off and leave a lamb behind if she has multiples, the weather is bad, or is a first timer. Lambs have the same trouble in the winter as they do in summer. they can't regulate their body temperature for the first few days & at this time of year hypothermia is a concern. I have a wall heater in the barn with a thermo cube that turns the heater on at 50o & off at 68o. A dry stall would probably be enough but with old ewes a little pampering is a good idea. We "dag" the ewes about a week before they are due and make sure the lambing kit is stocked. Gloves, rope, puller, lube, iodine for belly buttons, rags, etc. When the lambs are 3 days old they get their tails banded, ear tags & tatoos. Then a few days after that if everything is good, out they go. The farm flock is down this year to about 20 ewes & the commercial flocks have a shepherd with them at all times. We are almost completely switched over to hair sheep crosses with 1 band of Columbia X Suffolk that we keep for Club Lambs. I personally prefer the Dorper Crosses. They mature quicker & the meat is milder due to the lack of lanolin. More Later Meg

I am so glad to be active again on Local Harvest Thank you. I want all of my customers past and present to know that I now have a Manager! Doris will oversee deliveries, shipping, order confirmation etc. as you all know that is NOT my forte! I am sticking to what I know and letting someone else run the office! I'm sure that with Doris on board things will run a lot more smoothly. She already has my lecture schedule confirmed & on my desk. Yikes! The 2011 series will include, Lambing 101 what the new breeder needs to know. Cattle Basics, required testing, range management and grazing practices. Advanced Production, stocking rates, determining finish on grass fed animals,breeding, selection for grass based operations. Guest lectures from ranchers and stockmen that have had an impact on Grass Feeding in the West. I will keep you posted for dates and times. If you need to make an appointment CALL DORIS! Not my job anymore. Thank Heaven! Meg

We are right on schedule with the winter crop of lambs. 2 sets of twins & 2 singles here at the farm. These old gals are amazing. Over 100 out with the commercial girls. We have about 3 weeks of catnapping and then back to business as usual. I will post more often to keep all of you up to date on our activities.

We will be going dark for a bit. There are some issues that Local Harvest has been unable to help mitigate and we agree with their decision to go dark until these problems are resolved. We are still here and still going strong. You can reach us through our website and I'm sure we will be active with local harvest again very soon. Thank you all for your support and come see us soon. Meg

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been trying to get cows tested so we can move them, working to save the home place, plus the daily routine of checking livestock and rotating pastures. Dealing with the loss of a good friend(more on that later). We are custom harvesting 2 steers for our cowpoolers on Tuesday so if anyone wants to see how it's done be here by 10. We've been having a blast at the Markets as well. Saturday in Temecula is always fun, even in the rain. but if a more laid back market is your thing come see us on Sundays in Fallbrook from 11-3 we're always cooking up something, and John the hotdog Guy has at least 1 kind of our sausage each week. Tony's there with his killer Hummus and the cake lady's stuff is to die for! Teri will be back next week with her fish and don't forget the honey gal! Let's see what else? Oh, the Velociraptor (aka Gracie) had her pups! 6 little BC babies! 4 girls 2 boys. All are spoken for but 2. She's one heck of a young dog and daddy is probably the 2nd most Talented cowdog I know. Grace is back to work and motherhood seems to have given her focus. She's settling in to the stockdog routine nicely and will likely start trialling next spring. Thanks again for all of your support. I'll post more regularly I promise! Meg

We have been offering Grass Fed Ranched Bison for a while now. (You can't call em wild if they're behind fences! Besides that the wild ones are protected.) and there are some tricks to preparing it and not having Rubber Bands! 1. Bison is extremely lean and if over cooked is tough. Buy yourself a good meat thermometer and never cook steaks over medium rare. 2. Roasts need moist heat, slow ovens, or braising to be tender. 3. Start Steaks Frozen, this seals in the juices and helps maintain tenderness and only adds a few minutes to the total cooking time. 4. Don't fiddle with it! Put it on and leave it alone until it need to be turned. 5. Let it Rest. Wait 5- 10 minutes after cooking it for the juices to re distribute You'll be much happier for it! And finally, Bison cooks Much faster than beef so keep an eye on those steaks! Here's Donny's almost infamous recipe for Buffalo strip steaks. Paint steaks with Olive oil and sprinkle with Sea Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, a little Granulated Garlic and Cumin. Put on a Hot Grill 4-6 min. Flip and repeat. Use a Meat Thermometer and remove when steaks reach an internal temp of 135f. tent with foil and let rest 5-10 minutes. Carry over will bring the internal temperature of the meat up 7-10 Degrees and the juices will redistribute through the steak. Your steak should be a beautiful medium rare and tender. Enjoy!

We have been truly blessed. My friend Lou Files brought a couple to my place in need of a place to park their motorhome for a few days. They have jumped in with both feet to help take some of the workload off of the rest of us. My hay is in the barn the day it gets here, all the little "fix its" are being tended to, and all my dogs got a bath! With 4 working BC's an Akbash an Aussie and assorted Farm Mutts that was a chore! I've asked them to stay the winter and they have agreed. ( I hope they decide this needs to be there base of operations for their Mission Work) So the next time you visit say Hello to William and Candy, they were brought to us when we need them the most and are fast becoming indespensable members of our Home Farm Family! A big bonus is Will is as big a Dutch Oven junkie as I am so we'll be testing lots of new recipes before the competition season starts next year! We'll pass along some of our favorites. I'll be moving cows next week and will keep you all posted as to how that goes. Take care and Happy Holidays!

This year we played it smart and had our customers pre-order their holiday Turkeys. Mr. Morales suggested that we take our numbers from last year and double them. By mid September we knew we had under estimated how popular they would be. He raised just enough for our pre order and CSA. We do have birds available for Christmas as well as a few Ducks and Geese. Again these are by pre-order only. It takes about 18 weeks for the birds to reach maturity so I apologise in advance if we can't meet the demand.

I apologise for taking so long to post but we've been frantically fighting to save the home place, taking care of all the stock on multiple leases, trying to get hogs moved down from up north, and in the midst of all that we didd an interview with our local ABC affiliate on the merits of cowpooling. The story aired last nite but you can see it on line. I can't think of a better way to show folks what we do here and stop detractors in their tracks. We are still here, Still working hard for our customers and friends, and thanking you all every day for the love and support you all give us. We are planning a thank you party for our supporters after the first of the year so you can see first hand what your purchases are saving for future generations of producers. Thank you all so much. We truly wouldn't be here without you! Meg

We are adding 40 head of Registered Aberdeen Angus Cows to our program. the beauty of this decision is we are keeping it in the family! My Cousin has the last of the cattle that carry the Genetics that my Grandfather was using until his death. We were able to secure bred cows with traceable Genetics that have an uninterrupted family ownership going back 80 + years. These girls are old timey cows topping out at 1200-1400lb. Not the little guys that are dominating todays market. The fact that these new cows have never seen grain and finish out at 18 to 22 months makes them pretty special. Combine that with the gene pool we already have in place and we have unbroken familial genetics that go back 140 years. There aren't very many operations that can back that claim. With our focus being traceability and superior Genetics it wonderful to be able to keep it in the family.

There are some regional differences in cut names as Shanen pointed out. Here on the West Coast we have Ranchera, Further east it's called flap, Out here its an O-Bone, there it's an arm Roast. Ribe-eyes are Spencers, And of course the California Coined Tri- Tip. That's sirloin Butt for you Easterners. Flat Irons are Center Chuck Hanging Tenders are Butchers Filet and the list goes on! No matter what part of the country you are in, those of us that raise Grass Fed meat for your table can and do provide you with Humanely Raised, Safe and delicious meats by any name. So check for a rancher close to you and order up some cowboy steaks, Coulotte, or london broil and tell all your friends to "Come a Hookin!" Meg

Hey gang. I've been getting a lot of calls asking how much you get from a steer. The actual weight will vary from animal to animal but the cuts don't change much. Here is a breakdown for you on the number of each item per steer. This is a Standard cut animal with 1" thick steaks. Special instructions will alter the numbers. 12T-Bone steaks, 14 Porterhouse steaks,12filet, 14 Top Sirloin Steaks, 12Sirloin Tip steaks,15 Top Round Steaks, 22 bottom round steaks, 23rib eye steaks,2 FLANK STEAKS, 2TRI TIP, 7 beef Ribs, 135 ground beef, 6 soup bones, 4rump roasts, 2 brisket, 14 chuck roasts, 4 o-bone roasts, 6 shoulder clod Roasts, 5 ranchera, 1 hanging Tender, 1 liver, 1 tongue, Hope this helps! meg

I just want to thank all of you that have rallied to support us. We are about half way to saving the home place and with your support it looks like we just might make it! Our CSA is really starting to take off and those of you that educated us about cowpooling have been a Godsend! We always offered quarters, sides, and whole animals, you folks that got friends and neighbors to go in with you are amazing. Our customers are very important to us and you are showing us daily how important we are to you. By purchasing larger quantities it's a win win. You pay less for top quality Verifiably safe meat and we hopefully get to keep the place where you can come and see how its done. Thank you all again for supporting us and keep up the good work! Without satisfied customers spreading the word we truly would be lost.